Mentoring
What is Mentoring
-
customized attention to issues that
may not be addressed in the traditional classroom environment.
-
a dramatic
and permanent increase in productivity through tailored
training, coaching, and inspiration
-
tremendous employee satisfaction through being provided something worth
far
more than taking a course or attending a conference
-
temporary capability in a new technology without having to hire more
full time staff
-
permanent capability in a new technology by teaching it to your
existing staff while incorporating it into your existing code
We can bring your team into a new area -- moving to .NET or from .NET to native code, upgrading to the latest Visual Studio, using Visual
Studio Online for source control and Application Lifecycle Management, or getting ready for the next
release. We can introduce you to a new-to-your-team technology like
web services, XML, Json, or WPF. We can get you past a
blockage
-- one thing that you don’t know how to do
that you’ll only need to do once. Or we can help you
get past a temporary spike of work that needs more people; we'll
pitch in during an intense time, then you'll go back to normal when the
spike is past.
How does it work?
You form a relationship with a single mentor, who is available by phone, email, and instant messenger between visits to your site. Most of our clients arrange regular visits - half a day a week is popular, but you might prefer longer visits or slightly less frequent ones. On some visits, your mentor presents some prepared material that you have agreed on together, teaching a particular topic of interest. On others, your developers present stumbling blocks or problems that have arisen since the last visit and the mentor helps to solve them with the group, in the process teaching your developers how to solve that sort of problem. Another time the mentor might lead the team through a design or architecture process, lead a code review, facilitate a requirements meeting, or settle technical disagreements. Still another time, the mentor might spend half a day writing a "proof of concept" application that demonstrates how to accomplish a specific task, so that your staff can incorporate a new
technology into your existing application. It all depends on what your team needs at that particular time.
Training
Every client's training needs are different. For some, it's enough to work with us for a while and watch how we tackle things. Others want book recommendations, and we're happy to provide suggestions for instructional or reference books. Still others prefer to be trained in a structured environment.
One of our founding partners, Kate Gregory, is an experienced trainer for several training organizations. She is the public face of the company and delivers standup training. Kate is highly regarded in the training community and speaks at conferences all over the world. She is also a founding member of the planning committee for CppCon, born as the largest C++ conference ever in 2014 with over 100 sessions, and continuing to grow every year. If you need a traditional instructor-led course, or an online training course, we can meet with you to discuss your needs and recommend the best approach. We can also arrange for short term one-on-one training and mentoring at your site.
Since 2010 Kate has been delivering courses online for Pluralsight. Her courses have reached hundreds of thousands of students and she adds new courses regularly - primarily on C++ and Visual Studio.
Development
Before there was a World Wide Web, before it was possible to buy Internet
access, Gregory Consulting was writing software and helping others to be
better software developers. We've
embraced the Internet and Internet programming, but haven't left Windows
programming behind. (We have cheerfully abandoned most other
operating systems, though we're doing some mobile development now to supplement desktop applications.) We build Windows applications, web applications, web
services (for application-to-application integration,) Windows services, and
SQL Reporting solutions. It's important to
us to produce quality software that meets deadlines, budgets, and
requirements. We work in C++, Visual Basic.NET, C#, C++/CLI, C++/CX and various
scripting languages. We take advantage of standards and use frameworks and libraries to
reduce costs while providing a more robust solution than re-inventing the
wheel would provide.
Programming fits into all aspects of our
work. Our technical writing
is on computer programming topics with working programs as examples. We
take on contracts to produce Windows and Web applications, or to
collaborate on them.
Before you engage us for a programming project, you should understand
our development process. We have a strong
preference for fixed-price bids based on well-written and well-understood
requirements. You'll know just what you're spending; we'll know just
what we're agreeing to create. We'll all be happy!
Some of the programming
languages we are currently using include:
- C++ including
MFC, C++/CLI and C++/CX, with an emphasis on ISO Standard C++ wherever possible, and a Modern C++ approach
- Visual Basic.NET and C# with all
the power of the .NET Framework
- Interop techniques to connect
native code and managed code with minimal effort
If you need some software built (or the software you have now changed)
and you think we might be a good fit, please do get
in touch. There's no charge to talk about the possibilities, and we
would love to help.